Today's real wedding proves that a quietly stylish elopement can be just as personal and meaningful as a big, blow-out party with 200 guests - Lais and Patrick's wedding at Glenveagh National Park, captured by This Modern Love, is original, passionate and just plain dreamy, with Tom Petty's Wildflowers providing the theme. This is one seriously creative couple - just wait until you see the level of detail they put into their big day!

Patrick and Lais met at work, but Patrick is quick to point out that he didn't make the best impression. "I remember the first thing I said to her; 'Oh Lais, that's an interesting name!' And her response; 'Oh Patrick, that's an interesting name!' That was pretty much the last thing I said to her for a while."

Over the years, the pair became pals and the seeds of romance were sewn. "We'd bond over DVDs that I'd lend her, three bean salads that she'd make me and stupid random nonsense that didn't matter," Patrick remembers. "I always loved how we could just talk about anything and never get bored. I still like that."

Fast forward a few years and they both found themselves single, but their relationship took a bizarre turn when Patrick sent Lais a drunken text message that he can't remember writing - it read, "I love you." Lais was none-too-pleased with this, and told him so, but he managed to talk her into going to a blues festival with him that weekend. "I thought it was a date but it wasn't," he recalls. "In her eyes, it was just two mates hanging out. That night, we talked, laughed, drank and danced. I ended up kissing her, well she kissed me and the rest is history."

Surprise! The couple stayed in separate cottages the night before the wedding and each left a thoughtful gift outside the other's door in the morning.

We're obsessed with the cassette tape package that Patrick put together to get Lais pumped up for the ceremony!

It looks like it worked!

The couple's proposal story actually begins five years before Patrick popped the question, when the loved-up pair spent a day exploring the woods near Coole Park in Galway, and stumbled upon a quiet oasis on the bank of Coole lough at twilight. "It was as if we discovered the Irish Shangri-La," Patrick says. "I left there thinking, 'That's where I'm going to ask her to marry me'."

Five years later, Patrick organised a surprise trip to Galway, and brought Lais back to their favourite spot. "We arrived and she sat in the same place as if on purpose. She closed her eyes to appreciate the silence and took a long breath in. I hunkered down with the ring tight between my thumb and forefinger. The dogs settled, I got on one knee and said, 'Marry me'."

Patrick and Lais decided that their wedding would be a small affair, with just two guests - their dogs Benmont and Ofelia, who played the role of Best Dog and Dog of Honour respectively! Patrick says, "The wedding had to represent us - the music, the flowers, the cake, the venue. It all meant something to us and nothing to anybody else. We just wanted it to be us, because nobody else would get it. The main priority was to have a day that allowed us to enter married life without any compromises."

On that note, their wedding planning advice is to follow your intuition. "Don't lose sight of why you are planning the day, make decisions together and when the day comes, don't fret over the details, enjoy every minute of it."

Who needs humans when your bridal party is this cute?

In the end, Patrick and Lais got exactly the kind of wedding they were hoping for. "It was a relaxed day, filled with more love than we had ever experienced. It felt like a movie with a perfect soundtrack that we never wanted to end. We now refer to it as our Groundhog Day."

We love their cactus couple cake-toppers. What a simple idea!

For the venue, it had to be Glenveagh Castle and National Park in Donegal - the location of their first trip together as a couple. "It is a unique place, the castle sits right on the lake, it's small, tasteful and our dogs were allowed everywhere. That was a big part of it. It was part of our history and is a perfect choice for a small, humble wedding. It suited us down to the ground."

Although their wedding featured a small party of four, Patrick and Lais found a way to include their families in their celebration. "We put pictures of four couples that mean a lot to us around the room: my parents, her parents and grandparents as well as my brother and his now wife (they got married a couple of months after us)."

After the ceremony, Lais swapped out her vintage veil for this feather headpiece, also from Dirty Fabulous, which matched her green satin bridal flats!

The couple were really clever about how they worked their theme into the day. "The flowers were all wildflowers," Patrick explains, "and part of the lyrics to the song were embroidered inside my jacket and on the sole of her shoes."

The Wildflowers theme even extended to their honeymoon, which was a two-parter. "Straight after the wedding we went on a road trip from Milan to Sicily," Patrick says. "We kept to the east coast, travelling through small towns, meeting lovely people and enjoying the most romantic scenery. A month later we went to London for a Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers concert (they played Wildflowers!) followed by a road trip in the South of France where we enjoyed great wine, cycled through vineyards and had enjoyed the amazing views from a windmill on Bastille day."

After having a dance around the library at Glenveagh Castle, it was off to the local pub for a pint! What a perfect way to wrap up an unforgettable day!

We can't thank Patrick and Lais enough for letting us in on their special day, and, of course, Tim at This Modern Love for sharing his gorgeous photographs with us. Anyone else feeling inspired?